In the Penal Colony and the Subversion of Nostalgia Anonymous College

Franz Kafka subverts the idea of the romanticized past with “In the Penal Colony” particular in the character of The Officer. The Officer is the kind of character that one encounters at trade shows. This is a man who knows everything about a certain subject – jewelry, automobiles, comic books, winemaking, etc. – and is brimming with enthusiasm over the prospect of sharing this knowledge with the rest of the world. In most cases, the person is an enthusiastic hobbyist who eventually understands that he needs to find other people just as obsessive as himself in order to have a proper conversation about his obsession. At other times, the person can become unbearable in the enthusiasm and not realize just how little his audience may care about his expert opinion.

The Officer is the latter case. He takes great joy in explaining every detail of the torture machine from the bed to the harrows to the process that creates a near mystical experience for the condemned man toward the end of the twelve hours. The Traveler provides a willing audience as someone who is neither a citizen of the penal colony nor a citizen of the state to which it belonged. There is really no reason for the Traveler to be there at the execution. He’s an outsider...